


Anything Together

by through-the-stars-to-the-pavement (delicate_mageflower)



Series: Fire and Sword [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ADHD Sokka, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Autistic Zuko, Chronic Pain, Depression, Disability, Disabled Sokka, Disabled Zuko, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Illness, Mentioned Mai/Suki/Ty Lee, Neurodiversity, Nightmares, Partially Blind Zuko (Avatar), Partially Deaf Zuko (Avatar), Permanent Injury, Post-Hundred Year War - Freeform, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sokka + Ty Lee + Zuko Chronic Pain Solidarity, Sokka has Osteoarthritis, Sokka has tissue damage, Subluxations, Ty Lee has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Zukka Week 2021, Zuko has Chronic Migraines, Zuko has Chronic Tinnitus, Zuko has POTS, Zuko has nerve damage, Zuko has tissue damage, Zuko's Scar, internalized ableism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-27 18:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30126999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delicate_mageflower/pseuds/through-the-stars-to-the-pavement
Summary: Some wounds never heal. But at least they don't have to go through that alone.[Zukka Week 2021, Day 6:Disability and Chronic Pain-centric///Hurt/Comfort]
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Fire and Sword [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2209962
Comments: 22
Kudos: 90





	Anything Together

It’s not a panic attack.

Somehow, Zuko implicitly _knows_ this is not a panic attack.

It feels like one. Many of the hallmarks are the same. And the present situation would aid the argument that it is, having just given a lengthy public speech.

But it’s not. This is something different, and it’s something _very wrong._

He’s only seventeen, he’s too young to be having a heart attack. (Isn’t he?)

Of course, he could have heart problems now. Katara warned him about that while he recovered from Azula’s lightning. She hadn’t been able to say for sure and this was only a few months ago, so that _could_ realistically be what’s manifesting in his body right now, what’s causing him to tremble and feel feverish and for his stomach to turn and for his head to pound and the ringing is his ears grow louder and his remaining vision to falter and…

At least he’s in private now. Well, except for Sokka. Sokka could tell he was feeling sick—like, _scary_ sick—and didn’t want to leave him alone.

But Sokka’s his best friend. If there’s anyone he could be okay with seeing him like this, it would be Sokka.

“We’re going to the infirmary,” Sokka insists, and Zuko can’t bring himself to argue. “Come on, stay close to me. Let me help you.”

Normally Zuko would protest about Sokka potentially hurting himself, his leg and shoulder which have never been the same since the Day of the Comet, but Sokka would fight back and Zuko is so terrified he stays silent.

He is shaking so hard there is virtually no way he’s not going to hurt Sokka if he keeps leaning on him like this. But he can’t do anything about it. Fuck, he can’t see. He can’t see _at all,_ from either eye.

Okay, maybe _now_ he’s starting to have a panic attack.

“Zuko, stay with me, buddy.” Sokka sounds just as frightened as Zuko feels.

Which isn’t at all helped when Zuko collapses, Sokka miraculously managing to keep him from falling too hard, getting him down gently before shouting for a guard to help.

He tries to calmly tell them, to adequately describe what Zuko was doing before he passed out, the other symptoms he was showing, but he’s freaking out, too.

Later on, once it’s determined Zuko is not actually in any danger, it’s explained.

That lightning shot will have permanent consequences. He already knew it has caused substantial nerve damage, that’s been made clear by all the nerve pain he has in and around the scar, but it’s worse than that. Nervous system functions which are supposed to regulate themselves aren’t always going to work properly for him anymore. This includes blood flow, and that problem can be triggered simply by standing up or standing too long, and that’s what happened today.

The physician prescribes a diet high in salt and hydration, but there’s not really anything else he can do aside from be gentle with himself and try not to overexert.

Which, sure, should be easy for the fucking Fire Lord.

Zuko cries himself to sleep that night, which does nothing to help the miserable headaches he’s had since his burn, and he finds himself mindlessly slapping at the scar on his face just to see if he still can’t feel it (he can’t). He thought he was over having to adjust to a “new normal” after that.

And yes, it’s not as severe this time but _spirits,_ he does not want to have to go through this again.

***

It’s early in their relationship, they haven’t been sleeping in the same bed for very long, the first time Zuko wakes up to Sokka screaming.

Zuko turns over to see him sitting up, clutching his bad shoulder and breathing heavily.

“Sokka? Love?”

“Go back to sleep, baby.” Sokka’s voice is cracked and unsteady.

He’s crying.

So Zuko sits up, too.

“Are you hurt?”

Sokka doesn’t know how to answer that. He’s too embarrassed to tell Zuko he partially dislocated his shoulder in his sleep, and that this happens a lot. He knows, logically, that this shouldn’t be a big deal. He knows Zuko has bad nights and he never judges Zuko for that, so Zuko would never judge him. He gets that. And he knows he needs to talk about it. He’d try to get Zuko to talk about it.

But he doesn’t want to talk about it.

He has to, though. It’s only fair. It’s only right.

“I was dreaming about…about Toph, and…I really thought I was gonna kill her.” He takes a deep breath and his right leg moves restlessly. “I didn’t even realize how bad I fucked up my…my shoulder until later, all I knew was that I was going to drop Toph, I was going to fucking kill her, I—I guess I was dreaming about it because it slipped. My shoulder. It slipped out at some point. It does that. And a lot of the time it just slips right back in but it isn’t and it hurts and I can’t stop feeling Toph’s hand and I’m losing her and—”

Sokka’s been talking a million miles a minute and is rapidly spiralling, so Zuko stops him.

“Slow down, love,” Zuko says softly. “Take a breath. I’m going to go get a healer for you, okay? We’ll get your shoulder put back and then we’ll keep talking.”

Sokka shudders and doesn’t respond, so Zuko just adds, “I’ll be right back, sweetheart. I will be right back, I promise.”

Zuko closes the door behind him and is greeted by Ty Lee.

“Wandering out alone in the middle of the night, Fire Lord?” she teases him. “It’s a nice night for an assassination, I suppose.”

“No, I just need to pop by the infirmary.” As he should have expected, Ty Lee’s eyes widen in worry. “Oh no, it’s not for me, it’s…I mean, it’s nothing. Walk with me if you have to, just…don’t ask questions.”

“Sokka’s arm’s out again, isn’t it?”

“He…he told you?”

“Come on, I know what to do.”

Ty Lee opens the door to Zuko’s room and he follows her back in.

“Chin up, cutie,” she smiles at Sokka, and Zuko notes he actually relaxes.

She walks over to him and he lets his right arm fall. She grabs his left and there is a sickening _crunch_ and Sokka hisses, and then he sighs. “Fuck, does that ever get easier?”

“Kind of?” she shrugs. “You get used to it, anyway.”

“Ty Lee, it’s been _years._ I’m really not so sure about that.”

“Take my word for it,” she assures him with a sympathetic smile. “And if this happens again, you come find me.”

She leaves them to crawl back into bed, Sokka resting his head on Zuko’s chest (carefully, so as not to hurt the lightning scar), and Zuko kisses his head.

“What was that?” Zuko asks after a minute.

“Ty Lee has some…thing? I don’t know, I didn’t really understand it, but all of her joints do what my shoulder does and she always puts her own back, so. She caught me struggling with it once and helped me out. Didn’t think to bother her with it again.”

“You’re no bother, Sokka. Not to her, not to me.”

Sokka doesn’t believe him. Of course he doesn’t believe him.

“And I know you don’t believe me, love. But I mean that. I swear.”

***

Sokka hates using a cane. He _hates it._

It makes him feel useless, frail, helpless. He doesn’t use it every day, but breaking his leg during the airship strike caused permanent damage. From the knee down it still aches, and it’s caused problems in his knee that will only get worse with time.

He’s still in his twenties, he’s supposed to be way too young for this shit.

He doesn’t like to complain about how fucked up the whole left side of his body is now, though, since Zuko’s left is…well, Zuko’s left.

Zuko has an intense headache, the likes of which Sokka hadn’t seen anyone else have. He’s gotten these since he was thirteen, he said. That was enough. He didn’t have to elaborate.

So when Sokka comes in shuffling on his bad leg and leaning hard on his cane with custom brewed medication in his free hand, he doesn’t say much.

Zuko hasn’t been verbal all day, and he feels a little guilty thinking that works out for him, since he simply does not want to talk.

Zuko’s been curled up, holding his hands over his ears. Both of them. The ringing in his ears that also started at thirteen gets worse during these headaches, and coming from _inside_ it does not discriminate between his hearing ear and his deaf ear. It _feels_ like it’s in both ears, anyway. More problems no one really understands, and even the waterbenders haven’t been able to figure out.

He jumps a little when Sokka taps his shoulder, takes a few harsh breaths before he forces his eye open to see who it is standing over him.

Zuko points to Sokka’s left leg, the way it’s bent. It’s not a natural position, and it looks as painful as it is. But Sokka wasn’t minding himself, he was too caught up in taking care of Zuko. Because of course he would be.

“It’s fine, love. Don’t worry about it. I got your serum.”

Zuko keeps pointing, and then he pats his hand next to himself. He’s telling Sokka to sit down.

He reluctantly obliges, and helps Zuko sit up enough to be able to drink from the medicine vial.

Once it’s emptied, Zuko pulls on Sokka’s tunic as if to say “stay with me.” So he does.

Zuko takes his hand and taps his fingers three times, then three times again. And again. And again. Sokka knows what he means. “I love you.”

Sokka holds him and Zuko reaches towards his leg, and after a few minutes it’s starting to feel better.

Zuko’s using his bending. He’s applying heat using his bending.

“Hey, baby, you shouldn’t be making yourself work right now,” Sokka softly reprimands. “Just let yourself rest.”

Zuko does no such thing, going until Sokka’s body stops tensing so hard and he finally lets himself fall asleep.

***

Their wedding is so much fun. It truly is the happiest day of their lives.

Sokka does not let himself focus on the knee brace he wishes he didn’t have to wear in order to prolong his ability to enjoy the evening. It’s hidden under his purple robes, anyway, so he just has to try not to think about it.

Under Zuko’s robes are some patches along his stomach. Katara has been trying what she’s calling “desensitization therapy” and they’re not yet sure how well it’s working, but the material of the patch hurt less so that seems like progress. It won’t fix the nervous system dysfunction, but right now he isn’t cringing as hard as usual whenever someone hugs him in congratulations.

Sokka and Zuko dance for a long time, dance like they’re normal. They check in with each other from time to time, and take breaks when they need to.

Sometimes they step outside for some cooler air and open space with Ty Lee when she needs a moment, too. Suki and Mai have been taking good care of her, but her connective tissue disease is incurable and degenerative, and it’s still hard. Sokka and Zuko get that. They often bond over it.

The three of them toast with each other on one such break.

“To finding happiness in adversity,” Ty Lee says, and the newlywed couple cheers.

It’s never going to be easy, but they’ve come this far. They’ve found each other, they’ve found the family made up of all the friends they made in the worst of times. Some things will never be okay.

But at least they’re not alone. And they promise, they never will be.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Zukka Week!
> 
> Which is not actually over, I know, but I am making the conscious decision to sit out the last day. I really wanted to do this one but otherwise I'm just kind of burnt out. I wasn't originally planning on writing for it at all and then I just, uh, did, and every day I have rushed myself to finish that day's fic and yesterday's was a major challenge, which got me behind in starting today's, and I honestly haven't really been very happy with anything I've ended up putting out, _and_ I have been completely ignoring my work for the ATLA 18+ Big Bang as well as neglecting my Zukka Modern AU since this event began as a result, so I never thought I would make it this far in anyway and I therefore don't feel too awful calling it here. (And actually some of the concepts in this one are borrowed from what I currently have written of the BB fic so…oops, lol. Again, I rushed because I was not prepared but did this anyway.)
> 
> Thank you to everyone for reading, and to all the other amazing creators who have made and will continue to make this such a great week for Zukka content!


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